Final Cultural Reference Blog Assignment

Dear Professor Sweet,
Throughout this course we have done many blog entries about the films we viewed and short stories we read in class. Like you, I also think that it is interesting how all of the students in the class were given the same assignment, but all of the students went in a different direction with their research in the blogs. Some people focused strictly on cultural things, while others, like myself, blogged about more non-specific things.
I personally blogged a lot about animals, such as parakeets in the story The Parakeet, as well as elephants which were in the story The Elephant Vanishes, as well as in the MFA assignment I chose an artwork that featured a bird. I chose to blog about animals because I like them, and it is something I am interested in.
Also, my blogs featured some background information about authors we have read stories from. I blogged about Henry David Thoreau, Can Xue who is the author of The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes, as well as Haruki Murakami who is the author of The Elephant Vanishes, just to name a few. I chose to blog about the authors of stories we have read in class because I think that it is interesting to know a little information about the author before reading a story. Knowing a little bit about the author gives me and idea of why the may write in the style they do, as well as why they chose to write about the things they write about.
Lastly, I chose to blog about random things that interested me, or that I wasn’t sure of the meaning in specific stories. For example, in the story The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor by Deborah Eisenberg, I chose to blog about a slicker. I discovered that it was just another word for a raincoat, but before researching it I had no idea what a slicker was. Another example is from the story Evermore written by Julian Barnes. In this story I chose to blog about Thiepval. I had never heard of that before and from my research I discovered that it is a major war memorial to British and South African men who died in World War I Battle of the Somme and have no known grave. I think that it is interesting to blog about and research things that I do not know much about.
In this course I have learned a lot about my blogs and the blogs of my classmates. I think that it is interesting how everyone in the class was given the same assignment and everyone went in a different direction with their blog research. I generally chose to blog about animals featured in the stories we read, background information about authors of stories we read, as well as random things that I wasn’t sure the meaning of. Overall, this course has taught me a lot through the blog entries that I and my classmates have completed.
Sincerely,
Randi Eggleston

The Story of the Weeping Camel, film by National Geographic World Films

I enjoyed this film a lot. The documentary takes place in a very desserted area in Mongolia. The documentary followed a family that cares for and raises camels. The family uses the camels for everything, including, travel, using their fur to create strings, and they also use them for compainionship. One day a camel has a baby. The baby camel was a rare white camel, and right away the mother camel rejected its baby. The baby camel tried very hard to have the mother begin to take care of it, but the mother refused and got very mad when the memebers of the family would try to have the baby feed from the her milk. The mother actually kicked the baby when the baby tried to drink some milk from her. It was very sad, and all the members of the family were very disturbed by it. The people finally had this music teacher come to their home and try to reunite the camel mother and baby. After a while of playing his instrument the mother camel gave in, and decided to allow her baby into her life. The mother camel actually shed a tear when they were reunited. I really liked this film because I thought that it was very cute how the camels reunited and could become a family that they never were before.

OSAMA film directed by Siddiq Barmak

The film Osama is about a young Afghan girl and her mother who have lost their jobs when the Taliban closes the hospital they work at. The young girl must disguse herself as a boy, as her grandmother suggested, so that she could go and get a job to support her family. The movie is very interesting, to me, because it shows the life of a family in a culture that I am not very familiar with, so that is why I enojyed the film.

Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was born in 1817 and died in 1862. He ws an American author, naturalist, as well as a philosopher. Thoreau is most known for Walden. Thoreau actually lived in the woods of Walden pond for about two years. At the pond he wrote about nature, and produced some essays during his stay in the woods.
While in the woods Thoreau wrote an essay entitled Walking. In this essay he rambles on and on about walking as well as nature and "wildness". He has a very different writing style than most other authors I am familiar with. Thoreau usually talks of random things and rambles on and on about a subject, so when I read Walking it was hard to understand what he meant. Never the less, he had and interesting view of the world in the time period he was living in, he was very in touch with nature, and realized, unlike most people in his time, that nature needs to be conserved and the world needs to be taken care of before it is too late. It was interesting to know that someone such a long time ago, when there seemed to be nothing harming the environment, was thinking about the effects of people on the environment.

The Child Who Raised Poisonous Snakes by Can Xue

Can Xue is a Chinese author that was born in 1953, she was brought up by her grandmother who had some strange habits. Can Xue's life was rather unusual and her life experiences give her interesting things to write about.

This story was about a boy, Sha-yuan, and his mother and father. Sha-yuan is a very interesting child who often escapes the house to go find poisonous snakes. The parents become very concerned about him, because he always comes home with bite marks all over him, so they decide to keep and eye on him at all times. Sha-yuan tells his parents that they are wasting their time keeping an eye on him at all times because the snakes are everywhere, he claims they are scattered all throughout the house. The boy later says that a lot of snakes live in his stomach, and once he threw up and blamed it on the snakes. The boy says that he collects snakes so that they don't feel lonely. The parents think that their son is very odd, and don't really understand what to do with him. When he returns from running off a few days before, the parents claim they don't really think that he is their son, and that they have no proof that he ever exisited. The mother also claims that she has no idea where his name came from.

I enjoyed this story because it was a easy read, and it was easy to understand. But I also thought that this story was very strange. It was odd how the child claims to have snakes living in his stomach and they seem to be eating away at him because he slowly is getting thinner and thinner. Also, I thought that the ending was strange when the parents were confused as to wether the boy was actually theirs or not, and how they don't even have any evidence as to wether he exisited or not. But, overall I thought it was an interesting story.

The Elephant Vanishes by Haruki Murakami

Haruki Murakami is a Japanese writer and novelist.

SDI is the Strategic Defense Initiative, which is commonly called Star Wars after the popular movie, it was proposed by the US President Ronald Reagan on March 23rd 1983 to use ground-based and space-based systems to protect the US from attack by nuclear missiles.

Tateyama is a city in Chiba Prefecture, Japan

A Riddle by Antonio Tabucchi

Saint-Denis is located in the northern suburbs of Paris, France.


Meudon is a municipality in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France.





Aston Martin is a manufacturer of luxury performance cars, whose headquarters are at Gaydon, Warwickshire, England in the United Kingdom.





Hispano-Suiza was an orginally Spanish and then Spanish-French automotive and engineering firm that was best known for their cars, engines and weapons designs in the pre World War II period. Today they are part of the French SAFRAN Group.

Isotta Fraschini is a Italian manufacturing company which produces marine engines and other goods.

The Parakeet by Victor Erofeyev

Victor Erofeyev was born in Russia in 1947, and is a highly controversial author. He is actually the son of a high-ranking Soviet diplopmat. He spent some of his childhood in Paris, which is why most of his work has been translated from Russian to French.



A Parakeet is a member of the parrot species. The term is descriptive and used for small to medium-sized, long-tailed parrots, but does not simply imply taxonomic link between the different parakeets.

Alyssa Jones Photography

When we visited the display of Alyssa Jones' photography there were two photos that caught my eye the most. The display of pictures were all pictures of lesbian and bisexual women. One of the pictures that I liked the most was a picture called Steff, in this picture it showed a woman with her dog. The woman and the dog had their faces squished up together, and I thought that it was really cute. I also liked this picture because I love animals and it made me think of my own pets and how much they mean to me, I felt the lady in the picture had similar feelings about the dog as well. The other picture that caught my eye was a picture of a woman in a hallway dressed in a dress and reading a Vogue magazine. There were also a lot of magazines scattered all over the floor around her. I liked this picture because it reminded me of myself and my friends, because we enjoy reading magazines together.

Henry David Thoreau Quotes

"Pursue some path, however narrow and crooked, in which you can walk with love and reverence."

I like this quote because it is basically saying that if you enjoy the path that you have chosen in life, no matter how many difficulties you may encounter on the journey, never give up.


"I have learned, that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours."

I like this quote because it is basically saying that if you put your mind to something, with determination and hard work, you can reach your goals and be successful in life.

The Way Home

Recently my daughter and grandson came to visit me. It was the first time I ever met my grandson, his name is Sang-Woo, and he is seven years old. From the moment I met him he was not very kind to me. His mother, who is my daughter, told Sang-Woo to say hello to me, and meet me for the first time, he said to his mother that he didn’t want to say hello to me, and he told her I was dirty. So, from the get go he made me feel kind of upset, and I wasn’t sure how our relationship would ever grow. My daughter left Sang-Woo with me to watch over him. Sang-Woo is an outrageous, cruel child. He does not talk to me in a nice manner ever, and it makes me feel really bad about myself. I tried to give him candy the other day, and he refused to accept it. I thought that that was kind of mean. He also kept saying that he wanted “Kentucky Chicken”. So I walked all the way down to the Market and got a chicken. I killed and plucked it, and cooked it. I gave the chicken to Sang-Woo and he started crying and freaking out that it was not “Kentucky Chicken”, it made me upset because I don’t know what “Kentucky Chicken” is, and I just wanted to please him. After a while, he got real hungry and ate the chicken, it made me feel better that he actually ate it. After spending so much time with him, it was sad to see him go when my daughter came to pick him up a while after he first arrived. Although he was not the nicest person to me, he wants me to write to him often, and if I get sick, he wants me to send him a blank letter. I plan to write to him, and I hope that he plans to write back.

The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor by: Deborah Eisenberg

Words I didn't know the meaning of:
ruefully: causing sorrow or pity.

Slicker: a long, loose, oilskin raincoat.



This is a story about two roommates at a boarding school. Jessica is a very clean and organized person while Francie is very messy, and they argue about the mess often. A girl named Cynthia walks into their room looking for Francie. She tells Francie that Mrs. Peck wants to see her in the Administration Building. Francie is really scared that she is going to get into trouble for something that she has done, she couldn't quite figure out why she would be called there. When she arrived at the building Mrs. Peck told her that her mother had passed away. Francie was to go home, but had no wway, or family to call. Francie took a bus to New York City to find her father whom she had never met. Francie arrived at his apartment building, talked to a roommate of his, and the story ends without letting the reader know if she ever met her father or not.

Valentine's Day

"Be Mine", a song by David Grey is one of my favorite love songs. It is one of my favorite love songs because I really like the lyrics to the song and can relate to them.

David Grey- Be mine
From the very first moment I saw you
That’s when I knew
All the dreams I held in my heart
Had suddenly come true
Knock me over stone cold sober
Not a thing I could say or do
'Cos baby when I'm walking with you now
My eyes are so wide
Like you reached right into my head
And turned on the light inside
Turning on the light
Inside my mind hey

Come on baby it’s all right
Sunday monday day or night
Red blue or white its plain to see
Be mine be mine
That rain or shine night or day
What’s the difference anyway
Honey till your heart belongs to me

If I had some influence
With the powers that be
I’d have them fire that arrow at you
Like they fired it right at me
And maybe when your heart and soul are burning
You might see
That every time I'm talking with you
It's always over too soon
That everyday feels so incomplete
Till you walk into the room
Say the word now
I'll jump that moon hey

Come on baby its ok
Rain or shine night or day
There’s nothing in the way now
Don't you see?
Be mine be mine
Winter summer day or night
Centigrade or fahrenheit
Baby till your heart belongs to me
Be mine be mine
Thursday friday short or long
When you've got a love so strong
How can it be wrong now mercy me
Be mine be mine
What’s the difference anyhow
Baby till your heart belongs to me

My body's on fire, and my heart is on fire
And my body's on fire now my heart is on fire
My body's on fire and I'm losing my sanity
Be mine be mine

Gorilla, My Love by: Toni Cade Bambara

This story is about a tomboy named Hazel and her family. The story starts out with Hazel riding along with her grandfather, uncle and little brother. They are driving in a truck filled with pecans. Hazel tells storys of how tough she is, like the time she went to the movies and they didn't end up playing the movie that she wanted to see and started a fire in the theatre. Also, when she explained to her parents what happened she avoided getting beaten because her parents always taught her to fight for what she believes in. Her uncle, who she refers to as Hunca Bubba, is sitting in the backseat of the truck. He is telling everyone of his new lover and how he plans to marry her. Hazel gets upset and recalls how when she was young her uncle always said he would marry her when she grew older. Hazel says something to her uncle and he doesn't know what to say. The grandfather just says to her that he is not Hunca Bubba anymore, and has now changed. This shows that Hazel does have a soft side to her.

The Glass Tower by: Reinaldo Arenas

This story is about a Cuban man who has just moved into the United States. He is a well known author in Cuba, but has yet to write anything upon arriving to the U.S. He always has these characters floating around his head, and feels as though he should begin writing about them soon. The characters names are Berta, Nicolas, Delfin, Daniel and Olga. It seems as though the man has some kind of mental disorder because these characters take over his mind.
He goes to a party that is held in his honor, he can never refuse to go to a party, and finds out that he has been lied to, as well as everyone else at the party. He thinks he is going to meet some people who will publish his writings, only to find out that all the other guests were told that he would publish their writings. He also learns that no one at the party knows who he is. And he feels very lonely. The only friends he has are in his head. It is later found out that the whole story was a dream, and the only thing that was real is his dog, and his dog is the only one who notices and understands him.

Cultural Refrences:

Cuban danzon: danzon is the offical music of Cuba, and derives from a European-infulenced ballroom dance played by Cuban ensembles.

Pinar del Rio: a city in Cuba. It is the capital of Pinar del Rio Province. It is located in a major tabacoo-growing area and is a center of the cigar industry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pinar_Del_Rio

Evermore by Julian Barnes

Thiepval: a major war memorial to British and South African men who died in World War I Batlle of the Somme and have no known grave.

G-String by Nicola Barker

Cultural Refrences

dour-faced: relentlessly severe, stern, or glommy in appearance.
www.dictionary.com

Canvey Island: an island in the River Thames estuary off the coast of Essex, England.


frock: has been used since Middle English as the name for an article of clothing for men and women.

Choose a quote and research..

"It's the ones you can call up at 4:00 a.m. that really matter." - Marlene Dietrich

I enjoy this quote because it is very true to life. I think this because the only friends that are true friends are the ones that will be there for you always, even at 4:00 a.m. The quote is also saying that a friend who wouldn't care to help you out so early in the morning is not a true friend at all.

Betrayal by: Patricia Duncker

Cultural Refrences:

Magdalens: derived from Hebrew 'of Magdala' sometimes shortedned to Magda, is a female name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magdalens

Vittel: a spa town and commune of the Vosges department in northeastern France. Mineral water is bottled and sold here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vittel

Verrucas: Plantar warts
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verruca

MFA Assignment

MFA:
This bowl is probably northwestern Iran (so-called Aghkand ware), 12th or 13th century. Earthenware with incised decoration and colors on white slip under clear glaze. A splendid rooster picks his way through a thicket of vines on this bowl, which exemplifies the incised, polychrome-painted wares known as Aghkand, after a village in northwestern Iran where many such vessels were reportedly found.

This bowl from Iran would most fit in my family's home for many reasons.


Short Story (fiction):

A few years ago my aunt Nancy was searching for treasures in one of her many archeological digs. As the sun began to go down, all the archeologists began to pack up their belongings to go home after a long day, but Nancy had other plans. My aunt, being the sneaky woman that she is, decided that she would continue digging after everyone had left, even though she wasn’t supposed to do that, she felt as though she was getting close to finding something special. As everyone was leaving the site, Nancy pretended to pack up her belongings and told the others it would be just a few minutes before she too would leave the site. After a few minutes everyone deserted the digging area. Nancy began digging quickly in the dirt and rock. She then hit something, suspecting a rock as usual. But this time it was not a rock, it was a piece of pottery. As Nancy dug closer and closer to the pottery she discovered it was a bowl, and it was completely intact. She became so excited she scooped the bowl up and stuffed it into her backpack. When Nancy arrived home she was so excited to tell everyone about her find until she realized that she had broken a rule. She was not supposed to be digging alone, and she also stole the pottery she found on an archeological dig! She knew she would get into a lot of trouble if she told anyone, so for years she kept it a secret.
It was my sixteenth birthday, and I was excited to open up my gift from Auntie Nancy, because they are always such interesting gifts. I quickly untied the ribbon and ripped off the wrapping paper to find a box. So I opened the box slowly, and looked inside. It was a pottery bowl with a rooster on it. I really liked the bowl since I love animals so I jumped up to give my aunt a hug and thank her. After I had opened all my presents, my aunt Nancy took me aside to an empty room. She then told me the story about how she came to possess such an item. I was in such shock that I actually owned something from such a long time ago. I wanted to tell all my friends about the present my aunt gave me for my birthday, but I couldn’t, I had promised my aunt to never tell anyone where it came from.

Assignment for Monday, January 29th.

If I had to resonate myself with any of the characters or families from the three short stories we have read so far, I would resonate myself with the character Earl. Earl is a character in the story My Mother’s Memoirs, My Father’s Lie, and Other True Stories by Russell Banks. I would resonate myself with this character because, like Earl’s mother and father, my grandfather tends to make up stories as well. The fact that my grandfather makes things up doesn’t have as much of an affect on me as it does on Earl. It doesn’t affect me as much because I barely see my grandfather, and I think that he makes things up mostly due to his old age. But, I can relate to Earl in that I too have to deal with family members making up stories, and telling lies.

Response Paper

In both short stories, My Mother's Memoirs, My Father's Lie, and Other True Stores, by Russell Banks and My Father, the Englishman, and I, by Nuruddin Farah, the narrators are characterizing their parents. Compare and contrast these characterizations. What do the stories say about the narrators themselves?

I believe that the story by Russell Banks says a lot about the narrator. I think that the narrator is depressed, and wants the reader to feel sorry for him. The whole story is about how he was lied to as a child, and still in the present day. All the stories he tells makes me think that he wants the reader to feel sorry for him because he was always lied to.


I believe that the story by Nuruddin Farah is told in an angry tone. The narrator, to me, seems to be very angry while telling the story because he was abused, along with his brothers, by his father while they were young. The story says that the narrator is still angry at his bad experiences in his childhood.

A Family Supper by: Kazuo Ishiguro

Cultural Refrences

Kamakura district: a city in Japan
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kamakura

Tatami: Traditional Japanese flooring made of woven straw.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tatami

Chou Enlai: A prominent Communist Party of China leader, he was Premier of the People's Republic of China from 1949 until his death in 1976.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chou_Enlai

Osaka: The third largest city in Japan.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osaka

Kimono: Traditional garments of Japan. Orginally kimono was used for all types of clothing, but it came to refer specidically to full-length garments that is still worn by women, men, and children. Kimono are T-shaped, straight-lined robes that fall to the ankle, with collars and full-length sleves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kimono

This story was about a man whos mother died from eating a fish named fugu. The son, Kazuo, who is also the narrator, tells the story of how his mother dies. He then returns to Japan where he visits his father, and his sister also comes to visit. They talk about their lives and also about the past. The father makes it clear that he wants Kazuo to stay with him in Japan, but he is not sure on what he wants to do yet. At the end of the story the son, sister and father eat dinner. They eat fish, Kazuo asks his father what kind of fish they are about to eat, and his father replies with "it's just fish". That statement left me to wonder if the father was feeding the son and daughter the same fish that killed their mother. But, the reader never finds out if it is.

"My Father, the Englishman, and I" by: Nurudiin Farah

"My Father, the Englishman, and I" by: Nurudiin Farah

Cultural References:

Ogaden: part of the Somali Region in Ethipopia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogaden
Political Pimping: When someone represents more than one political party.
http://www.reference.com/search?q=political%20pimping&r=d&db=web

Response:

I didn't really understand the story. It was hard for me to follow what was going on, and what the story was even about. I believe the story was mainly about a son and his father's relationship. The father and son do not have a good relationship, it is stated that the father is abuseive. Many refrences are made to the hands of the father, hitting and smacking.